"No team hurt themselves less than we did."

 

They may not have landed the biggest names. They may not have thrown $4 million dollars a year on Luke Kunin. They didn't even spend $5.5 million per year on Marc Staal. But the Ducks have every reason to be pleased with the haul of players brought to the organization over the past few days. The club signed three young defensemen in Emil Johansson, Adam Ollas Mattsson and Ziyat Paigin. Up front the club went for a stellar combination of veterans in Bobby Butler, Ben Street, Matt Ford, Tom Sestito and Cody McLeod. 

 

Hoping to improve from last year where the club somehow not only made the playoffs, but pushed Cup favorites Vancouver to game seven, a lot of changes have been made so far in the off-season. In fact, only nine players from the 16/17 team are still with the club. Forwards Artem Anisimov, Matt Duchene, Kyle Clifford, Zack Smith and Teddy Purcell. Brenden Dillon is the only returning blueliner while the trio of Cam Talbot, Mike Smith and Jacob Markstrom is intact between the pipes.

 

The weaknesses of the 16/17 Ducks team were many and obvious to see. To name just a few the club lacked skill pretty much everywhere, especially on the blueline. It was also felt that the club could stand to become grittier and tougher up front.

 

Improvements have been made in every one of those areas. 

 

In terms of infusing more skill into the line-up, the PA+SC ratings have gone up from 1601 to 1685 for the forward group, an increase of 5%. On the blueline, the club has improved by a massive 18%, going from 599 to 707. 

 

On the gritty side of things, the club has managed to increase CK+FG in the forward group by 18%, despite going for a much more skilled group overall. And that number would increase to 25% should Kyle Clifford beat out Teddy Purcell for a spot on opening night. On the backend the club in general is less physical than it was last year, however the addition of Mark Borowiecki means the overall CK+FG values are virtually identical. Manager Sven Henry has made no secret of the fact that Borowiecki could play a very prominent role for the club this season.  

 

As mentioned the team continues to carry its three headed goalie monster in the crease. Cam Talbot should be even better than he was last year and is now emerging as one of the top goaltenders in the league. Mike Smith is one of the best backups (a lot of) money can buy and Jacob Markstrom makes for an ideal #3 behind the big two. Persistent rumors continue to appear about the possibility of one of the goalies getting traded, but so far nothing has materialized.

 

"We're much better than last year, but not yet of contender quality. Making the playoffs last year was our miracle on ice. Just making it in this season wouldn't be good enough. We want to win a round or two for this season to be considered ok, and we're on the right track towards putting together a team capable of achieving that goal. For us to be considered even a potential contender, we would need to add two quality wingers and another top four defenseman."